Ending the Vicious Circle: Oil, Corruption, and Violent conflict in the Niger Delta1

In recent times, there has been much concern about Nigeria’s continued survival as a nation. Since its return to civil rule in May 1999, the country, especially the oil producing Niger Delta region, has drifted from one violent conflict to another, often with devastating consequences on human life and socio-economic development. Most analysts blame this violence on the many injustices perpetrated by the central authorities (especially the inadequacies of the current revenue sharing formula that denies oil bearing states their dues), the lack of capacity of the security forces and by extension of the Nigerian state (part of the broader phenomenon of state failure in sub-Saharan Africa), and limited economic opportunities or poverty prevailing in the region. This study however shows that the continued violence in the Delta flows less from skewed revenue sharing formula, economic poverty or lack of capacity among the security forces, than from the predatory nature of politics in Nigeria, as seen in the accumulative instinct of public officials at all levels of government and the increasing determination of ‘renegade actors ’ to violently challenge their quest to monopolize resources accruing from oil